On Thursday, prosecutors charged a man with murder after a shooting at a linen firm near Philadelphia left two people dead and three others injured in what they called a “cold-blooded” attack.
According to Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, Wilbert Rosado-Ruiz, 61, faces two counts of homicide, multiple counts of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and a firearms charge. Stollsteimer announced his scheduled arraignment for Thursday afternoon.
Delaware County Linen in Chester, a city south of Philadelphia, charged Rosado-Ruiz with firing on Wednesday morning. The family-owned firm, founded in 1988, provides linen leasing and laundering services to businesses in southeastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states, according to its website.
According to Stollsteimer, the shooting looked to be the result of a dispute between Rosado-Ruiz and a female coworker. Authorities said it was unclear what sparked the conflict between the suspect and his coworker.
Officials reported the deaths of two brothers, Leovanny Pena Pena and Giguenson Pena Pena, and the injuries of three others, including the coworker involved in the dispute. Two of the surviving patients were reported to be in stable condition as of Thursday afternoon, with one in critical but stable condition.
“This is a horrible, horrible event that should never happen,” Stollsteimer said at a news conference Thursday. “As I stated yesterday, shootings occur much too frequently in America. It might have happened in any community, but tragically, it did here in Chester.”
Gunman ‘methodically’ walked around, shooting victims
According to Stollsteimer, he observed as the individual systematically moved around the business floor.
According to Stollsteimer, the first victim in the incident was a female colleague who fled the building after being shot. As Rosado-Ruiz was making his way out of the building, he spotted the woman and attempted to fire more shots, but either failed to discharge or ran out of ammunition, as per Stollsteimer’s account.
After the incident, Rosado-Ruiz quickly left the scene. However, an officer from Trainer, Pennsylvania, who heard about the incident and was aware of the vehicle description, promptly stopped Rosado-Ruiz’s car and took him into custody, as shared by Gretsky.
Stollsteimer stated that Rosado-Ruiz was in possession of the gun used in the shooting legally. However, he faced a weapons charge because he did not have a license to carry a concealed weapon.
Latest workplace shooting in U.S.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been a total of 168 mass shootings in the United States this year. A mass shooting is defined as an incident where at least four people, excluding the shooter, are shot, regardless of whether they survive.
According to a tracker from USA TODAY, Northeastern University, and the Associated Press, mass killings are defined as incidents where four or more people, excluding the offender, are killed within a 24-hour time frame. As of 2024, there have been 15 such killings, according to the tracker.
In Half Moon Bay, California, there were two related shootings last year that resulted in the unfortunate loss of seven lives. Authorities categorized these incidents as an example of workplace violence. Similarly, in June 2022, a Maryland manufacturing facility experienced a tragic event where three individuals lost their lives and three others sustained injuries, including the perpetrator.
According to a report by USA TODAY in 2022, workplace killings by employees have been relatively rare compared to other mass killings in the United States.